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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2017/jul/19/bbc-publishes-salaries-of-highest-earning-stars-live-updates
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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| BBC to publish salaries of highest earning stars - live updates | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 8.36am BST | |
| 08:36 | |
| The union representing low-paid production workers at the BBC is stepping up demands for a minimum salary of 20,000, PA reports. | |
| Bectu said it was “unjustifiable” for the corporation to focus on the earnings of those on more than £150,000 when thousands of engineers, technical and other production staff were paid a fraction of that amount. | |
| Gerry Morrissey, leader of Bectu - now part of the Prospect union - said something should be done about low pay. He told the Press Association: | |
| “We have had a claim in for two years for a minimum wage of 20,000 rather than the current 16,000. | |
| “It is totally unacceptable that the BBC is prepared to pay senior management and others many times that amount. | |
| “There should be a lot more focus on giving low-paid staff a decent living wage.” | |
| Mr Morrissey said more than 2,500 production staff were paid less than 20,000. | |
| 8.32am BST | |
| 08:32 | |
| Hall commits to close gender pay gap by 2020 | |
| The BBC director general, Tony Hall, says he is committed to closing the gender pay gap at the BBC by 2020. | |
| In a sometimes awkward interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme presenter Mishal Hussain, Hall said: “By 2020 we will have equality between men and women on air, and we will also have the pay gap sorted by then too.” | |
| He added: “The average gender pay gap for the UK is just over 18%, our figure is 10%. I’m committed to making sure we do something about it.” | |
| Hussain, whose pay is unlikely to match some of her male co-presenters when the salaries are published at 11am, pressed Hall on whether male salaries will be cut or female salaries raised. | |
| Hall said: “We will be working through case by case to ensure that I can sit here in 2020 and look you in the eye, and more importantly look our licence fee-payers in the eye, and say we have equality of pay between men and women ... We have to manage within our means. You know that and I know that. We have got to look after public money very very carefully.” | |
| Hall said the decision to publish salaries was a “bad idea” but he conceded that the BBC had lost the argument. He said: | |
| “Trying to compare names with what they are paid is actually very difficult. It is one of the reasons we said this was a bad idea ... there is one person doing one job sitting next to another person doing another jobs, they may be doing different other programmes. So comparisons are very very hard. That’s one of the worries we have got to manage and help through today.” | |
| Hall also said he feared that other broadcasters would poach BBC talent as a result of today’s figures. He said: “Part of the difficulty that the public has in judging this, is that it is only us publishing these things, it is not anybody else publishing it. We were against this because we thought it was going to be inflationary. And we believed it would tempt other people with deep pockets to come after our talent. We lost that argument, let’s get on with it.” | |
| Hall defended the pay levels of all 96 stars on the list. “I’m satisfied with all of the 96 people on the list and what they are being paid,” he said. He added: | |
| “We are seeking to get balance here between the spending of public money and also making sure we have got the right faces on screen and behind the microphone. I think we have been managing to hold down the pay that we pay talent and reducing the pay that we give to talent at a time of real inflation. The total is down by £5m on last year.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.36am BST | |
| 7.53am BST | 7.53am BST |
| 07:53 | 07:53 |
| The BBC is to publish the names and salaries of its top earners at 11am as part of its annual report. | The BBC is to publish the names and salaries of its top earners at 11am as part of its annual report. |
| Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker who is expected to appear near, or at the top of the list, has already dubbed it “BBC salary day”. | |
| Happy BBC salary day. I blame my agent and the other TV channels that pay more. Now where did I put my tin helmet? | Happy BBC salary day. I blame my agent and the other TV channels that pay more. Now where did I put my tin helmet? |
| We will have all the eye-watering detail of the pay packets, or as much detail as the BBC will reveal – the salaries are due to published in bands of £50,000. | |
| We will also track all the reaction and fallout. The BBC has allowed its highest earners to defend their pay on social media. | |
| The list of top earners was demanded by the government in the face of resistance from the BBC. David Cameron initially told the BBC it should disclose the pay of on-air talent earning more than £450,000 but Theresa May cut this to £150,000 after becoming prime minister last year. | The list of top earners was demanded by the government in the face of resistance from the BBC. David Cameron initially told the BBC it should disclose the pay of on-air talent earning more than £450,000 but Theresa May cut this to £150,000 after becoming prime minister last year. |
| That salary is what the prime minister herself is paid. | That salary is what the prime minister herself is paid. |
| On Tuesday, the BBC revealed that 96 stars will appear on the list. Only a third are women. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.33am BST |